Through the Years
by AmaraK
Summary: OTH/GG Crossover. Brooke, Peyton, Rory and Nathan are siblings Finns their best friend. They all get together for Christmas and find out some things they never knew about oneanother.


Disclaimer - I do not own Gilmore Girls or One Tree Hill or any characters/plots associated with it nor do I own the foreign film on which Brookes story is based on.

A/N: This story is extremely AU and the characters are therefore very OOC. Lorelai and Christopher are happily married with four kids. Their first born was Peyton three years later they had nathan a year after that Brooke and the next year Rory. They got married when Peyton was one. Theres not much else to tell its all hopefully in the story. Also the story is set during Christmas which I know its not christmas but it works so just go with it. Thank-You.

* * *

Lorelai Gilmore Hayden hastily grabbed a purple scrunchy off her dressing table and pulled her mid length hair into a messy ponytail. Jumping up from the small stool she ran across the room barefoot. It was the week before Christmas and she could smell snow in the air, the thought of it alone provoked an extra jump to her step. She loved this time of year; the presents, the snow, it was all just so…._magical_. And over the past five years holidays such as these had become all the more precious to both her and her husband, for it was on these rare occasions that the whole family would be together under the same roof at the same time. Lorelai lived the better part of her life surrounded by all her children and had become rather accustomed to living it this way, however after her youngest daughter left for college a year ago, she found she was never able to see more than two of her children at the same time, a thought that exceedingly depressed her. Letting out a heavy sigh she continued walking, lost in her thoughts she tripped over a large object on the ground and was saved from hitting the floor in a most unladylike but very Gilmore manner, by a pair of strong arms. Looking up she gave a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes to her rescuer.

A throaty laugh escaped Christopher's lips, his eyes sparkling with love for the woman now securely wrapped in his arms.

'Come on cheer up. It's almost Christmas' he said reaching a hand up to brush some stray hairs away from her eyes.

Lorelai sighed shaking her head dejectedly: 'yea, it's almost Christmas. In fact there's only a week left until Christmas day and still none of our kids are here. What? Did I all of a sudden become my mother or something? Why are none of them here? _I'm _not Hitler, I don't criticize there every move I love them _I'm _the cool mum, why do they all of a sudden hate me too much to come home!' she ranted heatedly, clearly upset at the prospect of none of her children being home for a holiday so precious to the whole family.

'Even Finn's not here' she almost screamed, referring to the son of her late best friend, who had become like a second son to her after the death of his parents when he was only fifteen years old. "We usually can't get rid of him and he chooses now to go all independent on us, he won't even answer my freaking calls!'

Christopher sighed running a hand through his hair; 'come on Lor, your being unreasonable, you know you are. The kid's love you and they will be here they're just running a few days late is all. As for Finn well, he's on a business trip, you know that and he answered twenty of the fifty calls you made to him this week alone, give the kid a break".

Lorelai sighed letting out a frustrated scream; 'it's the week before Christmas',

Christopher nodded 'I know this'.

'And not one of them is here'

'They'll be here' he soothed comfortingly.

"We haven't even got the decorations up yet' she said looking from the decoration filled boxes in the middle of the room to the bare walls surrounding her.

'Then lets put them up' replied Christopher grabbing hold of her left hand and pulling her of the couch, however seeing her anger filled eyes he froze, 'what?' he questioned warily.

'_So lets put them up!' _she mimicked incredulously, voice rising with each syllable she uttered. 'We have never put the decorations up without the kids _ever_. Since Peyton's first Christmas we have decorated the house as a family. What the hell Christopher _lets put them up' _she shouted waving her hands about angrily.

He sighed, rubbing his face tiredly with his hands, before looking back up at his livid wife. 'You think I've forgotten all that? Of course I haven't. How could I? But they're growing up Lorelai; they have their own lives now. Peyton won't always be here to make chips at twelve o'clock at night, wrapped in newspaper for all of us to share; Rory won't be around to read a Christmas story by the fire _every _Christmas. Nate…Nathan, is _married _Lorelai, running home weeks before Christmas to play ball with his old man and pester his sisters _may _no longer be at the top of his priority list. As for Brooke…well she's always been a free spirit and-'

'And' interrupted Lorelai, 'has always come home at least a week before Christmas to spend time with her mum. She may be a free spirit but she is also an extremely family orientated girl as are all those kids' she continued sternly 'and they will _all _be here just like they always are, and these decorations' she pointed towards the numerous boxes 'are not going up until they do get here' she finished, storming out of the room and on to the front porch.

Taking a seat on the small couch outside on the front patio, she let out a tired sigh closing her eyes and leaned her head back against the sofa jadedly. It was a longstanding tradition in the Hayden family to do the Christmas decoration's together. On Peyton's first Christmas Lorelai and Christopher had brought a beautiful angel they found hidden away in Mrs Kim's antique store. The angel was special in that it held a striking resemblance to a barely year old Peyton, the same innocent face, hazel eyes and curly golden locks. The angel was put at the top of the tree by an excited little Peyton that first family Christmas and every single Christmas thereafter. When Nathan was born three years later, Christopher had a delicate blue dummy ornament custom made for the tree, a surprise present for both mother and son. Nathan had almost reached the age of one before his first Christmas but would still refuse to part with his dummy, for even a few seconds. Hence the ornamental dummy with the words 'baby Nate' engraved around them was made, to mark Nathan's place on the Christmas tree. For baby Brookes first Christmas, Lorelai had a pair of pink glass ballerina shoes made, with a delicate pink ribbon wrapped around them and a small silver 'B' engraved in to the corner of the right shoe in italics. The ornament symbolised the only thing that could get a baby Brooke to stop crying, the sound of ballet music. A year later the final ornament was added to the tree, this time it was a small white crib, with a beautiful toddler holding a remarkable resemblance to a eight month Rory, standing up inside it, left hand tightly gripping a bar of the crib and a small yellow blanket with the golden letters 'LLGH' engraved in to the corner, and right arm hanging lazily over the crib, with a mini 'Alice in wonderland' book held in her hand. Until they were old enough to help with the decorating of the house they each only put the ornament specially made for them up on the tree and as they grew older took enjoyment in helping with other decorating also. It was a beautiful ritual that Lorelai refused to give up on.

The bright shine of a cars headlight broke her out of her thoughts, instantly recognising the car Lorelai jumped up excitedly running towards the black SUV.

'Christopher! Finn's here!' she shouted as she ran down the path towards the car, her earlier anger towards the man in question completely forgotten. Running down the long path towards the car she grabbed her long blue cardigan wrapped it tightly around herself as a rough gust of wind blew it open making the lapels fly around her. She excitedly began bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited for the engine to stop before she ran forward and eagerly pulled the driver's door open.

'Finny!' she screamed excitedly when he stepped out of the car embracing him in a motherly hug. Finn wrapped his arms tightly around the woman he considered a second mother and let out a deep laugh at her obvious and extremely predictable enthusiasm.

'Ok Lorelai you can let go know your squeezing all the exotic appeal out of me' he lightly joked. Provoking a soft laugh to leave her lips as she gently pulled back smiling at him happily.

'I've missed you kid, you and the other four who have abandoned me' she lightly reprimanded too happy at one of the kids finally being here to remain seriously angry.

'Ah you know that's not true Lorelai' Finn began walking past her when he spotted Christopher lurking in the background smiling happily at the two of them. He held out his right hand to Chris who in turn grabbed it and pulled him in to a manly hug. 'They'll be here, they always are' he carried on as he pulled back from Chris' embrace. 'In fact, I do believe I have a little surprise for you' he smiled secretively at her as he walked back to his SUV pulling the passenger door open.

'Finally I don't know why you wouldn't just let me out at the beginning, dufous' came the voice of an extremely annoyed young girl.

'I do apologise your royal highness, can you ever find it in your heart to forgive my careless behaviour' Finn mocked going in to a low bow.

She laughed mirthfully turning towards the tall Australian 'your forg –'

'MINI-ME' screamed Lorelai running towards the girl in question roughly knocking Finn out of the way and abruptly cutting the girl off her sentence'

'Mum… can't… breathe...air…necessary' squeaked a small voice. Lorelai quickly released her 'right sorry, I can't believe you're here' Lorelai exclaimed happily walking towards the back passenger doors and putting her hand on the handle 'are the rest of them in here too'

Finn laughed ''fraid not Lorelai, Brooke's with a colleague trying to get the online shop running again but she'll be here in a couple of hours, Nate says he'll be here in about half an hour he has to drop Haley off at her parents and Peyt…' he paused wondering what to tell Lorelai, the truth was his best friend hadn't answered any of the umpteen calls he had made her in the past three days and it was really beginning to worry him she never ignored his calls 'She said she'll be here tomorrow the latest, she's having a bit of trouble with one of her singers' he lied already feeling guilty.

'Ah well never mind you're here, and my baby's here' she said looking over at Rory who was now hugging her dad hello. 'come on lets go inside' she said wrapping an arm around the young boy as they all made their way in to the Crap Shack.

* * *

Christopher poured four large cups of coffee, taking them to the round kitchen table where the other three were sitting. 'So have either of you heard from Peyton lately, we haven't been able to get in touch with her for a while' all three of them looked expectantly at Finn who looked like a Fish out of water. 'I...errr..' he nervously cleared his throat 'yea uh I talked to her yesterday she's just a bit stressed over work, she's working with a new singer whose not being cooperative at all' he guiltily lied feeling it would be better not to get Lorelai and Christopher worried about their eldest daughter. His phone began vibrating in his pocket and he silently thanked the gods above for the escape; 'I've gotta take this it might be someone at work' he excused himself practically running out of the kitchen's back door in to the warm night air.

'Hello' he hastily answered his phone.

'Hey buddy long time no talk' came the feminine voice from the other end

'Peyton. Shit, where the hell have you been, I've been trying to get hold of you for three days, hell Lor and Chris have been trying to get hold of you for god knows how long and now thanks to you they decide to go all Spanish inquisition on me as to your whereabouts which I clearly can't answer cause I don't were the heck you are because you been ignoring my bloody calls' he ranted angrily

'Wow Finn calm down, I'm sorry ok, I've just been really busy, you know trying to finish everything off for the holidays' she said in a slightly unfamiliar voice.

'You're lying' he deadpanned

'What' she questioned confused.

'You're lying, I always know when you're lying and you're lying. What's going on?' he questioned the anger subsiding and worry returning.

Peyton sighed 'look Finn I've got to go, I just called to ask you to let mum and dad know I'd be there tomorrow morning, their cells are switched off and the home line isn't working for some reason. So I'll catch you later' she hurriedly ended the call leaving Finn dejectedly staring at his cell phone. Letting out a long sigh he let his back hit the wall as he tiredly fell to the ground. Silently looking up at the stars he wondered what Peyton was hiding from him, he knew she wasn't in danger, she'd say something if that was the case but she was keeping something from him and her whole family it seemed and he wondered what it was. Feeling someone sit down next to him he turned his head to his right, smiling when he saw who it was.'hey Ror'

'Hey' she smiled, 'who was on the phone'.

He began to thoughtfully turn his cell around in his hand 'oh it was just Peyton'

Rory nodded pensively, she had known Finn her whole life, he was like a second brother to her and she loved him immensely. She was closer to him than she was to her eldest sister Peyton and she knew his every mood, she could read him like a book. It was therefore no surprise that she was able to deduce he had lied earlier in the kitchen and that he was now feeling restless. 'Well that's great' she began however retreated on her words upon noticing his still fallen face 'isn't it? I mean you know how she is now…right? She questioned uncertainly.

Finn let out a loud sigh scooting closer to her and wrapping a warm arm around her shoulders, pulling her body closer to his 'not necessarily love. She told me to let Lor and Chris know she'd be here by tomorrow and didn't leave room for any explanations. I don't know what's going on with her' he stopped, a strained look of hurt and defeat crossing his face. Peyton was his best friend, they had been inseparable since the age of three, she found it hard to let people in he knew that, but he wasn't one of them or at least he hadn't thought he was 'lately it's like she's been avoiding me'

Rory looked up at him resting her head on his shoulder 'yea you and everyone else. You know what Peyton's like' she attempted to comfort'

Finn shook his head 'yea I know what she's like, but not with me'

Rory closed her eyes getting lost in her own thoughts. She hated seeing the pain the Australian she had come to think of as a brother had to go through. However couldn't bring herself to feel entirely sorry for him, it was his own fault really. He needed to tell her, he needed to move past this insane fear of rejection and take a chance because she knew it was what they both wanted. Finn had loved Peyton for as long as she could remember, everyone knew it, even Finn, but he was too stubborn minded to admit it. Rory had questioned him about it numerous times and he had one day relented and confessed that she was right, he was truly and deeply in love with the eldest Gilmore child, but he couldn't tell her, he couldn't risk loosing the friendship that had in so many trying times held him together. Rory had tried reasoning with him, had tried explaining that Peyton felt the same way, she loved him just as much, she was just waiting for him to realise it and overcome his fear to tell her. 'Finn?'

'Hmmm?'

'When are you going to tell her?'

Finn's shoulders stiffened as he pulled away from her causing her head to drop slightly 'Rory, don't. I'm not in the mood for this again'

A pair of stubborn blue eyes began to stare him down determinedly 'well that's too bad because we're going to discuss it right now!" she bit back, not intending to sound as abrupt as she had 'You love her Finn I know you do and she loves you. But if you sit around feeling sorry for yourself, too sacred to act on your feelings then she _will _move on. Because one day Finn she's going to get tired of waiting for you. She can't put her life on hold forever and neither can you' she desperately tried explaining.

'I…I can't lose her Rory. If she doesn't feel the same way then I've ruined a perfect friendship, things could never be the same again everything would just become awkward. And if she does return my feelings then if I mess up somewhere down the line, which lets face it I'm bound to do, I'll lose not only my best friend but also my family' Rory was stunned by the strain in his voice, the heartbreak he so rarely showed was clearly visible in his defeated tone. She could detect the self conflict he was attempting to battle against, to make the right decision.

'Since when do you focus on the negatives hm?' she questioned attempting to soften the mood 'you look at this and think of all the bad it could bring, all the destruction it could cause. But when I think of it, all I foresee is how good it could be, how happy it could make you both' she leaned her head across to make eye contact with him 'you know sometimes I think _I _have more faith in you than yourself. There is no way in hell you would or even could mess this up. It's far too precious to you for you to destroy. And even if it ever did go wrong, which it won't, who says you'd lose everything? You can't get rid of the Gilmore's that easily, you'd have to kill us before you could get rid of us' she smiled and it was true Lorelai and Christopher would never abandon him, not only would they see it as a betrayal to two of their closest friends but they had come to see Finn as a part of their own family, they could never leave him now.

Finn silently slid his right arm in to his jacket pocket pulling out a long nylon rectangular box; he gently opened the blue lid revealing a beautiful thick silver chain, with a medium sized heart at the end. Seeing Rory move closer eagerly taking a more focused look at the pendant, he smoothly flicked the heart open and Rory was surprised to realise it was a locket, one of the most exquisite lockets she had ever seen. On the right hand side was an engraved inscription written in striking golden italics and on the left was a picture of a fifteen year old Finn and Peyton, both of them smiling manically, as Finn attempted to keep the curly blonde, who had a pair of thick luminous red headphones on, securely on his back. 'I brought this, almost three years ago now. Every Christmas, every birthday I think, 'right I'm going to give it to her now and I'm going to tell her'' he told the blue eyed girl next to him in a strangely quite voice 'It took me forever to decide on the engraving, nothing seemed to fit, nothing was good enough, but then...finally…' he trailed of staring at the engraving. Rory looked up at his eyes lost in thoughts, memories, then back down at the inscription and silently read it to herself _'come in to my life regress into a dream we will hide and build a new reality' _she knew it probably meant something to both Finn and her sister and she knew it would be perfect. 'You should give it to her Finn, she'd love it.'

He nodded a small smile slowly stretching across his face 'I will, I think I've stalled long enough. It's time to tell her, to finally move forward' Rory broke in to a big smile crashing in to him, happily wrapping her arms around his neck in joy, as they both broke out in to a happy fit of laughter.

'What's going on out here?' a masculine voice interrupted causing Rory to abruptly leave Finn and pounce the 6' man who had just entered 'Nathan! You made it!'

He laughed 'of course I did, didn't think I'd miss this did ya?' he questioned pulling back from his youngest sisters embrace and going forward to greet Finn in a manly hug. Rory watched the two of them smiling 'great now all we need is Brooke. Peyton will be here tomorrow and we'll all finally be together again'

'Actually Brooke called she won't be here for a couple of days, her train's been cancelled or something so it'll take her a little longer to get here'

* * *

'Where the hell is that little jerk' Brooke frantically thought to herself, hazel eyes searching for the sullen brunette boy who had made her miss her train. No one double crosses Brooklyn Amelia Gilmore, and she'd be damned if he got away.

_Brooke frantically ran towards her train, her meeting with Matthew had overrun and now she was late for her train. She could under no circumstances afford to miss this train, she needed to be home by tomorrow like she said she would be, and Brooke Gilmore always keeps her word. Abruptly stopping before the train she quickly pulled out her ticket, placing it between her teeth before she grabbed her bags again, jump__ing on the train, she almost fell backwards but was saved by a steady hand pulling her forwards causing her body to roughly collide against a strong wall and her bags to fall around her. Looking up she realised what she had mistaken as a strong wall was in fact a very good looking boy of around 5'11, wearing a leather jacket black hair stylishly swiped back and face set in a stone cold expression. Blowing her fringe out of her eyes, she let out a sigh of relief; 'Thank-you so much, I almost went, well you obviously know that or else you wouldn't have saved me, which I'm so grateful for by the way so grateful' she stopped realising she was rambling, a terribly annoying habit she had picked up from her mother; 'I'm Brooke Gilmore by the way, nice to meet you' she introduced with a big smile causing her dimples to reveal themselves as she held out a friendly hand. The man merely stared at her boredly, before breaking eye contact to look at her outstretched hand for a brief moment and walking off. 'Ok' she thought to herself 'odd', but the thought didn't occupy her mind for long as she was simply eager to find her seat and get some sleep. Pulling out her ticket she took a quick scan of her seat number, before making her way to the relevant compartment. _

_Reaching her seat she hastily placed her bags in the space above and sat down quickly closing her eyes; 'wait a minute was that..' she thought to herself abruptly sitting up and opening her eyes she realised she was in fact right it was him the same boy who had saved her earlier on;_

'_Hi!' she shouted breaking him out of his revere 'so__, we meet again. I didn't get your name earlier what was it?' she questioned nochantly. _

_The brunette stared __straight through her as though he could neither see nor understand anything she said, causing Brookes smile to falter. 'Are you ok?' she questioned worriedly. Still, no answer. 'You know it's rude to ignore people, you should give an answer when your asked a question' she retorted hoping it would spark some sort of a reaction, but still, nothing. 'Are you deaf and mute?' she questioned, before realising if he was he would not be able to answer that question, sighing to herself she decided she was right he probably could neither hear nor talk, in which case she had been incredibly horrible to the poor boy. _

_Turning back to the boy she was hoping she'd be able to sign language an apology, but realised he was no longer sitting there. She quickly got up searching for him, she didn't know what it was but there was something drawing her to this boy, something preventing her from simply ignoring him like she usually would have done. __Walking through the many compartments she came to an abrupt stop when she noticed him slouched against one of the compartment doors, head dropped in his hands tiredly, crouching down she sat next to him. _

_Reaching out a hand she made to lightly touch his shoulder but stopped midway, deciding instead to lean her head__ in closer and whisper 'are you ok?' completely forgetting her earlier theory of him not being able to hear nor speak. When she realised he wouldn't answer her, she gave a dramatic sigh; 'fine don't answer me. But know this I'm not leaving you, I'm a Gilmore, we're known for out stubbornness, trust me Emily Gilmore could even put Hitler to shame' she laughed, leaning back against the door. 'Although I'm not as bad as that, but I guess the small town quirkiness could make me pretty unbearable too. I'm from Stars Hollow, it's a small town and you can forget about ever having a private life there, but its home you know? I don't think I could live anywhere else anymore. Not permanently anyway, I mean obviously I'm commuting all the time to work on my clothing line. Maybe you've heard of it? 'Clothes over Bros'? It's the only thing I was ever good at you know? I mean Rory got the brains and Peyton got the gift of music, there my sisters by the way, as for Nathan, my brother, well he plays professional basketball, he's amazing, the best big brother ever, where really close. I'm going home now to my family for Christmas, them I'm leaving to be with Logan. My parents and siblings don't like him so I figure the only way I can be with him is if I run away. It's tough but I love him. Were gonna get married. He's great we-' she was cut off by an angry and extremely annoyed voice:_

'_Don't you ever shut up!? All I can hear is your voice yammering on and on, it's like having Stuart little shoved in my ear. I mean who the hell tells a complete stranger these things anyway!?'_

_Brooke stared at him, mouth slightly agape, eyes wide open 'Wow! It speaks!' _

_The brunette sighed in frustration running a rough hand through his hair. _

_A ticket warden approached them 'tickets please'. Brooke hastily pulled her ticket out of her pocket and showed it to the warden, who after checking it over turned to the boy next to her 'ticket?' the brunette kept his head down refusing to acknowledge the warden. _

_Brooke stood up pulling the warden to the side 'actually, you see the thing is, he's going through a difficult time at the moment. You see his sister is severely ill and he just got the phone call about fifteen minutes before boarding the train. So you can imagine what must have been going through his mind at the time, he didn't even think to stop and get a ticket, he just got on the train as quick as he could. So if you could just print him a ticket now that would be an immense help' she explained sorrowfully. __The warden nodded solemnly printing a ticket right away, Brooke gratefully took it from his hand and approached the young brunette 'Hey' she whispered 'I've taken care of the ticket, you Just need to pay for it' the boy silently pulled a black leather wallet out of his pocket and held it up to her 'thanks' she took the wallet from his hand, taking a couple of 50 dollar bills out of it and handing them to the warden, before closing it and returning it to its owner. _

_She sat back down next to him 'so, what's the problem? A girl?' she blatantly questioned, the boy looked up at her silently shaking his head at her antics. He was surprised at her audacity, she just said absolutely __**anything**__, it was like she didn't care or didn't realise how personal some of the things she asked were, hell she gave him practically her whole life story. As the train came to a stop he broke his gaze from her questioning one, knowing she was clearly still waiting for an answer, and silently got off at the first stop and left. _

_It had been ten minutes and the train would begin moving again in another five, the brunette man had still not returned. He would miss the train if he didn't come back soon. Brooke sighed, it looked like she would have to get off and fetch him back. Jumping off the train, her hazel eyes scanned the station, landing on the now familiar man sitting on an isolated bench in the middle of the station, she rapidly ran towards him._

'_Hey, the trains leaving, come on!' he didn't answer 'hey, Mr no name! The train is leaving you better hurry' still no answer 'what the hell is wrong with you come on' she said walking backwards towards the train. Hearing the train give its last call she rolled her eyes 'fine. Stuff you!' she shouted towards him before turning around and running towards the slowly moving train. She sped up chasing after it 'hey stop, wait! WAIT!' she ran after it as quickly as she could as the train now began travelling at full speed and drove out of sight causing her to fall dejectedly to the floor 'shit!'_

Seeing a familiar leather jacket clad man Brooke broke in to a sprint up the stairs 'Hey!' she screamed running towards him. He stopped turning around. Upon seeing her, his eyes widened in horror and he broke into a sprint running away from her. 'Oh no you don't' she screamed after him angrily. Finally reaching him she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around facing her 'You!' she spat venomously blowing her now haywire hair out of her face 'because of you I have missed my train! My entire luggage, my wallet, money _everything _was on that train and because of _you _I no longer have it!' she screamed.

'How the hell is that my fault' he defended.

'Don't you _dare_ try to act innocent, you wouldn't freakin get on the damn train' she screamed.

'Well who the hell told _you_ to run after me?' he shouted in a tone to match hers.

'You _brought _a ticket for the last stop!' she shouted in frustration causing a smirk to make its way across his face 'correction _you _brought a ticket for the last stop' he retorted smartly.

'I don't care' she said, her eyes staring him down dangerously 'the bottom line is that the situation I'm in now is your fault and _you_ are now gonna help me. It's 12 o clock midnight and I will not wonder around the stations alone. I have no money, identification _nothing _and seeing as you got me in to this situation _you_ are going to get me out of it. You will stay with me at all times protect from all the freaks who hang about train stations at this time of night' at this a look of terror made its way across her face 'and you will get me _home_. Or so help me god I will burry you alive' she weakly threatened.

The boy sighed running a hand tiredly across his face. Her threats meant nothing to him, if he wanted to he could turn away right now and forget he ever met this lunatic of a woman and that is exactly what he should have done. But there was something else urging him to help her, no matter how much she had gotten on his nerves today she seemed like a nice girl, one who could never hold her own in a rough place like this, it was with this thought he found himself regretfully conceding to the girl's plea. He nodded his head stiffly 'fine' running a nervous hand through his hair; he reached his left hand out to her 'Jess. Nice to meet you'. Brooke smiled, her magnificent dimples catching Jess' eyes '_Jess_' she said happily shaking his hand 'how nice of you to finally give me the privilege of learning your name'. Jess shook his head exasperatedly, 'this should be interesting' he thought to himself finding it difficult to tear his gaze away from hers, as the two strangers stood in the middle of the station hand in hand.

* * *

Peyton brushed the peacefully sleeping three year olds soft blonde curls out of her forehead, contentedly looking down at the beautiful little girl she had come to think of as a daughter. It was a year ago today that she met Jake, at the time she had thought it would be a meaningless two month relationship; never could she have imagined it would escalate in to something so beautiful.

'Hey' came the familiar voice of the man she had grown to love. She turned to face him a radiant smile lighting up her face 'she asleep?' he quietly questioned. Peyton merely nodded finding she was unable to speak the words she so wanted to. It had been such a wonderful day, she was afraid if she uttered a syllable she would break the spell that had kept everything so perfect.

Jake smiled; walking forwards and dropping a quick loving kiss on her forehead before leaning down to pick up his daughter and tuck her into bed. Leaving Peyton to contemplate all that had occurred in the last 24 hours. She closed her eyes leaning her head back against the head rest of the two seater and absentmindedly began to fiddle with the ring on her ring finger.

Her family didn't know about Jake, they didn't even know she was in a relationship. It was something she had regretted everyday for the past year. She didn't intend for it to be this way, to keep such an important part of her life from the people she loved the most. But she hadn't realised things would come to this. When she first met Jake she thought it would be one date, never believing she could find someone who she'd want to spend more of her time with, but one date escalated into two and two to three. She still, however, maintained it would last no longer than a few months and therefore found it pointless informing her family of the relationship. Before she knew it, what was once believed to be a short meaningless affiliation, turned in to a long committed relationship and she found herself stuck on how to tell her parents, her best friend, her siblings. She had kept it from them for so long, how could she _now_ bombard them with a fully formed relationship, it was far too much.

Sighing she ran her hands over her face dreading the coming day. Tomorrow she would go home for Christmas, this time; _with_ Jake and Jenny. It was time she told her parents, things had escalated too much without their knowing, she was _engaged_ for heaven sakes and they needed to know. A silent tear made its way down her left cheek as she thought of how disappointed her parents would be upon realising she had kept so much from them, if only she could make them understand how much she had wanted to tell them, but couldn't.

* * *

Please let me know what you think, feel free to criticise as I can only improve if I know what I'm doing wrong. Also I need a little help, some of you may have a noticed a few non-american words dropped in to the story, I tried using the american vocab but there were some words where i just drew a blank and couldn't remember the american word for them. So if any of you picked up on that please let me know what word I should be using. Thanx.


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